‘Thanks for soaking my fur,’ Toklo muttered as he gave her a nudge to help her back on her paws.

‘You’re welcome,’ Lusa replied, shaking herself so that shining droplets scattered from her pelt.

‘Hey!’ Toklo leaped backwards and slapped one paw down hard on the surface so that water showered into Lusa’s face.

‘I’ll get you for that, you big lump!’ Lusa retorted.

‘Come on!’ Ujurak had climbed on to a sandbank a little way ahead. ‘There’s no time for playing around.’

As Kallik waded through the water to join him, she thought how strange it was that Ujurak should be the one to interrupt his friends’ high-spirited fun. Usually he was the first to get distracted.

He’s changed since he was taken away by the flat-faces, she thought.

At last all four bears splashed their way up the shelving bed of the river and stood on the far bank. A few pawsteps further, the grass gave way to shingle, scattered with spiky bushes. Kallik could hear the swish of water and the rattle of pebbles as waves washed in and out. The line of foam was only a few bearlengths away.

‘We’ve reached the sea!’ Toklo panted, flopping on to the ground.

Kallik and the others tumbled around him, their breath sounding harsh after their long trek. Kallik looked back to see the flat-face place they had left; she could just make out the tall building where Maria had directed them. She pressed herself to the ground as she heard the growling of a metal bird and spotted the speck of light swooping over the distant flat-face dens.

‘It’s not looking for us,’ she said as she watched it sinking down into its nest.

‘No, we’re safe now,’ Lusa murmured. ‘They won’t come looking for us here.’

For a few moments, all of them were silent, huddling together in the comforting darkness. The lights and noise seemed far away; Kallik wanted nothing more than to rest for a while, listening to the soft surge of the sea and breathing in the scent of the endless ice.

‘I have the answer,’ Ujurak announced. ‘I know why we were brought here.’

‘I might have known you wouldn’t let us rest for long!’ Toklo muttered. ‘I know why we were brought here,’ he added, jerking his snout at Lusa and Kallik. ‘We came looking for you.’

Ujurak pushed his snout into Toklo’s shoulder. ‘I know you did, and I’m really grateful. But that’s not what I mean. Something has been guiding me,’ the small brown cub went on, his eyes glinting in the starlight. ‘Until we came to this place, I didn’t know why. I thought I was trying to find a place where bears can live safely. But it’s more than that.’